Re: Should I use EMACS?

Robin, thanks for the info. Though I didn't understand half of it!

From: Robin S. Socha <robin(at)franck.pc.uni-koeln.de>
>I use it with html-mode and hm--html-minor-mode. This combination
>rocks, because you get:
>
>       o syntax highlighting
>       o syntax validation
>       o indenting
>       o shortcuts for every conceivable tag
>       o tight integration of sgml

Ok, this all sounds useful. But with Word I don't need to put the HTML tags
in directly myself, so you haven't convinced me yet...

>it's got all those nifty little packages (like htmlize by Hrvoje
>Niksic that allows you to put syntactically highlighted code on the
>web just like that:
><http://franck.pc.uni-koeln.de/~robin/pine-tips_w.html#procmail>) I
>find this particularly helpful for putting CGI scripts on the web
>because they become so much more readable.

I'm not sure that I understand you. Why not just make them readable yourself
when you type them?

>> To be able to use it at a newbie level isnt too difficult. There is
>> really no way to compare MSWord to Emacs. One is a word processor,
>> the other is a highly extensible and programmable text editor geared
>> towards programmers.  One would never replace the other...they are
>> completely different creatures.

This I can understand! And I think it answers my question, thanks Kayla.

>Well, quit true, but... there is one reason everybody should switch
>from Word to XEmacs, but it has nothing to do with HTML. It's LaTeX
>and it will allow you to prepare beautiful documents with a flick
>of the wrist. It will also allow you to prepare 5000 pages long
>documents with 1000s of tables, pictures and bibliography entries
>without ever crashing.

Ok! Now that's impressive! The page count ceiling is my biggest beef with
Word.

> And the quality of the output should put the
>morons in Redmond to shame from here to eternity. That said, I
>would like to point out that it /does/ have something to do with

No, you lost me again... surely the quality of your output owes more to your
printer than your Word Processor?

>Business as usual. Never think the user to be stupid, but merely lost
>and confused. Word is *not* easy to use just because you can chase
>that queer paper clip around the screen with a mouse, and XEmacs is
>not hard to use just because you can use it without ever touching a
>mouse. Tell me: had you rather go "grab mouse, open 3 menues, open and
>close 4 dialogs, switch to the keyboard again, grab the mouse again,
>click some more"

Do you actually know how to use Word? I rarely touch the mouse. When I
pulled a tendon in my arm a few weeks back I managed a full day's work
without using the mouse and with no loss of productivity that I could
determine (my typing was a little slower ;-) ).

> or just M-x hm--html-add-description-title-and-entry[1]
>and hit RET?

You have to type all that to do something? Good grief, I hope whatever it
does is really useful.

Thanks to you both for replying. You haven't convinced me, but at least I
understand (a little) better what Emacs is.



David Meadows
[ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
DNRC Minister for Littorasy
david(at)goldenheroes.softnet.co.uk
"Imagination is like the sun. The sun has a light which is not
 tangible; but which, nevertheless, may set a house on fire."
        -- Paracelsus

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